1. ​Introduction.- 2. The Cultural Construction of Equality in Norden.- 3. The Cradle of Norwegian Equality and Egalitarianism – Norway in the 19th Century.- 4. Critiquing the View from Within: “Likhet” is not Equality.- 5. Social Imaginaries of Equality in an Age of Financialization/Neoliberalization.- 6. Egalitarianism, Mobilization, and Resistance.- 7. Normative Hierarchy and Pragmatic Egalitarianism in Municipal Policy Development.- 8. Care and Control in the Clinic: - How Deep into their Lives can we Really go?.- 9. Experiencing the Welfare State: Sick Leave and Local Culture.- 10. Social Differences in Health as a Challenge to the Danish Welfare State.- 11. Irregular Migrants and the Norwegian Welfare State.- 12. Reshaping Egalitarian Practices: Vocational Youth between Schooling, Industry, and Popular Culture in Rural Norway.- 13. Equality and Fairness: Some Comparative Perspectives.- 14. The (In)egalitarian Dynamics of ‘Gender Equality’ in Contemporary Norway.- 15. ConditionedBelonging: Middle-class Ethnic Minorities in Norway.- 16. Riding along in the Name of Equality: Everyday Demands on Refugee Children to Conform to Local Bodily Practices of "Danishness".

This book discusses egalitarianism in Scandinavian countries through historically oriented and empirically based studies on social and political change. The chapters engage with issues related to social class, political conflict, the emergence of the welfare state, public policy, and conceptualizations of equality. Throughout, the contributors discuss and sometimes challenge existing notions of the social and cultural complexity of Scandinavia. For example, how does egalitarianism in these nations differ from other contemporary manifestations of egalitarianism? Is it meaningful to continue to nurture the idea of Scandinavian exceptionalism in an age of economic crises and globalization? The book also proposes that egalitarianism is not merely a relationship between specific, influential enlightenment ideas and patterns of policy, but an aspect of social organization characterized by specific forms of political tension, mobilization, and conflict resolution-as well as emerging culturalvalues such as individual autonomy.

Presents a far-reaching, novel, and interdisciplinary approach to the investigation of egalitarianism Offers illustrative and engaging ethnographic case studies Investigates, complicates, and critiques ideas of 'Scandinavian exceptionalism' Grounded in an examination of Scandinavia but reaches beyond this region in its implications and discussions